Our Miss Lizzie is very vocal, but non-verbal. Often times if something is bothering her, she will yell, cry, pinch, bite to get her point across, but she doesn’t always indicate what is bothering her. This makes it a very difficult and often frustrating game called, “Guess What Lizzie Wants.” And sometimes Lizzie’s yelling, pinching, etc will escalate as you guess wrong and irritate her more by fussing with her while not taking care of what she wants. I have been bit in these situations. It’s not fun, but it’s part of playing the game. In Lizzie’s defense, when you have no words, you have to get your point across somehow.

Today we had a wonderful communication moment. Lizzie was sitting watching her cartoons and having her lunch, when I started hearing cries of distress. It was clear that something was bothering her. I went to her expecting to play my normal guessing game, talking to her in a calm voice like I always do. I asked her what was wrong. Clear as day, she raised her foot which still had her AFO (ankle foot orthosis) on it, and then she reached for the straps. I took off her AFO, and she gave me her other foot! Then she tried to pull off her socks, which for some reason today were exceptionally sticky. My daughter, who wanted her braces off, was able to tell me that was what she wanted. There was no biting, no pinching, and no yelling (once I was within range to take care of her problem). It was amazing! I look forward to more of these moments in the future. I was so proud of her, and praised her for doing a good job of telling me what she wanted.